Queuing is a natural or cultivated habit of the people of sub-continent including India or it is a culture of the West introduced by the British is a matter of inconsequential interests yet would be a valid study for students of sociology.

In order to find how the behavioural aspect of the population is intrinsic to the pressures of the economy over the social dynamics, it is imperative to go back in time.

Memories still haunt the days of shortages of everything from daily essential items like staple foods, edible oils and the like so much so that there were social unrest in the country in mid-sixties and thereafter. 

Citizens were getting used to standing in the long queues for hours. For quotas of kerosene, sugar, edible oil, staple foods in front of Ration shops. Life was difficult because our country was facing an acute shortage of food items and was coping with challenges of economy.

Today we (except VVIPs) don’t mind and think it as gentleman’s traits to stand in queues in banks, post office, movie halls, railway counter for reservation of berth ,for luggage, security check and boarding at airports, ATMs, restaurants for tables, Passport office for passport, Cricket and Football match tickets in front of Stadium, and for every conceivable things ; the list is endless.

Of course, there is a difference now as we stand in the queues to pay for our items and not for securing rationed quantities of controlled items. This has been possible due to the self-sufficiency in agriculture products and a quantum rise in the growth of the economy.

Since the 1990s after liberalisation and opening of the economy coupled with structural reforms, the country has gradually moved from a controlled economy to a market-driven economy.

All of us, sometime or the other, however, grumbles to follow the queues either due to less number of counters or service personnel in the establishments. We tend to blame the system and our Government for not making things available in more convenient ways so that we are comfortable and our valuable time is not wasted.

We also relate standing on queues as degrading, lowly and not so aristocratic. It is a common scenario and bitter experience to find that many VIPs and their family members jump the queues and get things done as most valued customers without a shade of shame on their face for breaking the rule.

Even in temples and places of worship, there are VIP counters and premium tickets for Darshan thereby corrupting even the divine places. Commoners jostle, push and nudge between themselves in queues to get an entry.

Sometimes we too felt obliged when the man behind the counter is a known face and exchange of smile meant that ”please take care of my requirement in preference to others by off the cup means’. We have seen ugly altercation, fist-raising, yelling and howling at each other at the slightest push and bizarre situations. We are witness to Police intervention to keep the queue. Each one of us will have so much to say and share our own stories of ‘queuing ‘.

Interestingly there is a queuing theory. Queuing theory is the mathematical study of waiting for lines or queues. A queueing model is constructed so that queue lengths and waiting time can be predicted. Queuing theory has its origins in research by Agner Krarup Erlang when he created models to describe the Copenhagen telephone exchange. That is beside the point of my narrative. So let’s not go further into this and come to more mundane.

If you observe, the perceptions of queuing in recent years there is a paradigm shift. The generation next thinks differently. Young people in thousands are ready to queue, waiting for the launch of a new Apple iPad, one plus 6 or for selection in musical competition on TV channels, for Concerts so on and so forth.

In UK queuing is very popular and considered it to be a civilized behaviour.
Dr Joe Moran, a social historian says, ‘the practice dates back to the industrial revolution when Britain became more urbanised and the ways of conducting ordinary business began to change’. It will be worth reading a book authored by Dr Joe Moran, entitled ‘queuing for Beginners: The story of Daily Life from Breakfast to Bedtime’.

Queuing is, of course, a universal character spanning from UK to European countries, Canada and developing nations.

The World cup Cricket 2019 is gone out of India’s grip and Nadal has valiantly fought the semis in Wimbledon 2019 and lost to the perpetually brilliant Federer on 12th July 2019.

The oft used example in UK about how much the British enjoy queuing relates to the Wimbledon Tennis competition where hundreds make a serpentine line and wait for hours to obtain tickets. I have learned that there is an official name “the Queue for the Championship” and that there is a 15 page Guide on the rules and procedures for being part of the queue.

To be a well-mannered person waiting in a queue requires imbibing certain gentlemen’s traits and behaviour. VVIPs in India are required to be more educated on good behaviour and sensitize them to dispassionately fall in line with others in public. It would be worth sharing the following guidelines for queuing when we stand on the queues:

• Never jump the line or push.
• Don’t ask the person to mind your place when you are away.
• If you have trolley don’t hit the person in the queue
• If someone breaks the rule of queuing, say EXCUSE ME in a terse tone of voice
• Look straight at the person if he engages in loose talks with cashier or ticket collector.

So next time you are in queue be patient and you know what to do. So the moral of the story is that VVIPs stop jumping the queues.